Lyrics for All Around the World or the Myth of Fing... as interpreted by dank

All Around the World or the Myth of Fing... Lyrics
Over the mountain
Down in the valley
Lives a former talk-show host
Everybody knows his name
He says there's no doubt about it
It was the myth of fingerprints
I've seen them all and man
They're all the same
Well, the sun gets weary
And the sun goes down
Ever since the watermelon
And the lights come up
On the black pit town
Somebody says what's a better thing to do
Well, it's not just me
And it's not just you
This is all around the world

Out in the Indian Ocean somewhere
There's a former army post
Abandoned now just like the war
And there's no doubt about it
It was the myth of fingerprints
That's what that old army post was for

Well, the sun gets bloody
And the sun goes down
Ever since the watermelon
And the lights come up
On the black pit town
Somebody says what's a better thing to do
Well, it's not just me
And it's not just you
This is all around the world

Over the mountain
Down in the valley
Lives the former talk-show host
Far and wide his name was known
He said there's no doubt about it
It was the myth of fingerprints
That's why we must learn to live alone

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  • 13 Comments
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stupid_name
01-31-2006

Rated 0 
how has nobody commented on this yet?... i don't know about the meaning, but i love the imagery...

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MattieCamp
01-31-2006

Rated 0 
Not a real well known paul simon song, but a good one nonetheless

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b-rad1796
03-05-2006

Rated 0 
This is a very complicated song, much to be expected from Paul Simon. I think the phrase "myth of the fingertips" is significant. Each person's fingertip is different but that shouldn't suggest that we are that different from each other. The talk show host was a famous person but he's no better than you and I. Wars are started because of racism but we're it's just "the myth of the fingertips".

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attila_carnaki
03-15-2006

Rated 0 
b-rad1796 its the myth of fingerPRINTS not figerTIPS mate. ;)
apart from that i'd say your quite close to being right.
this is an absoutely beautiful song i love it
the imagery in it is great

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Jaws201020
07-20-2006

Rated 0 
I agree with b-rad1796. I think this song is about any sort of prejudice. "The myth of fingerprints" is the general publics obsession with ranking people. When he talks about the army base I think he saying wars are also created over our need to rank ourselves.

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Simonfan
08-03-2006

Rated 0 
It seems readily evident that fingerprints are all different. That's what we're told at a very young age anyway. The thing is, what if we were to look and find out that they all are the same. In a sense the human hand is very recognizable and therefore the "same" from person to person. Differance from person to person is often contrived. I like the way Paul Simon used fingerprints in particular. Of all the things that can be differant about a person this is one of the most individual and also perhaps the least stigmatizing. I think Jaws and Brad nailed this one.

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msulli05
03-16-2007

Rated 0 
I feel you guys are right in a sense that everything is based on judging people and ranking them. The myth of fingerprints is a statement saying that fingerprints were all the same in the beginning, but the discover that no two are alike has created a separation of people based on race, creed, religion and who you are. This is obviously a song about how people now-a-days think that they are better than someone else just based on "our" standards. Paul Simon wrote this after his visit to Africa and his experience over there made him most likely realize that they are all suffering and that the myth of fingerprints doesn't exist anymore because many people turn their heads and feel that they are better than the Africans in need and that it is a separate issue that only the people over there should handle. Atleast thats how I feel... I may be wrong in som parts but then again I have also been drinking pretty hard while listening to this song, found the website and thought it was amazing so I decided to comment on how I feel. However, I believe Paul Simon is one of the greatest artists of all time. Anybody disagree?

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ngnauh
06-21-2007

Rated 0 
i think this song is a play on the commonly-known scientific fact that every individual has a unique set of fingerprints. i'd have to disagree with simonfan a little here and say that i don't think paul means that even though our fingerprints are different our hands are similar - hence the essential similarity between human beings. I think the similarity he's acknowledging is on a more metaphoric level - like an inner thing rather than anything discernable on a physical level. As for the line 'there's no doubt about it, it was the myth of fingerprints, that's what that old army post was for' - i take that to mean that the 'myth' of fingerprints (our impression that we're all so different and have irreconcilable differences) is the reason why that army post was installed in the first place (with army post as a symbol for times of war) - i.e. human conflict is based on the 'myth of fingerprints'. What I'd like to know though is what the 'watermelon' in the chorus is about...

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forps
10-04-2007

Rated 0 
I love the lyrics to this song and also the instrumental work of Los Lobos. "Ever since the watermelon" probably means as far back as anyone can remember.

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tappanking
11-16-2007

Rated 0 
I agree with most of what's been said. Simon, it seems to me, is talking about the hypocrisy of saying we value individuality (no two fingerprints are alike), while at the same time stereotyping entire groups out of prejudice (whether it's illegals, republicans, moslems, blacks, gays, evangelicals, or old white men) One classic racist remark from a few decades back is "All of you people look the same.")

As I noted in my comments on the song "Graceland," I think a theme of the entire album is how deeply ambivalent Americans are about the powerful stream of African and African-American culture that runs through every part of our society.

I don't know who the "former talk show host" is in the song (it's too soon to be about Arsenio Hall and too late to be about Phil Donahue, who lost his job to Oprah), but that person is clearly bitter about some act of prejudice that killed his career because he was a black, a gay, a jew, or what have you. His advice is to "learn to live alone," without trusting your fellow man.

The clues that Simon is thinking about race are phrases like "ever since the watermelon," reminding us of the not so long ago days when it was okay to joke that all black people ate watermelon, and "black pit town," which not only refers to the "black pits" of a watermelon, but segregated black towns in America and black mining pit camps in South Africa.

So, unless I'm reading too much into it, this is shorthand for the history of colonialism, which began with "army posts over the ocean somewhere" where people of color were conquered, "grew heavy," and later "grew bloody" as colonies finally threw off their conquerors in bloody revolutions.

Or it could just be a song. :)

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stevehardison
05-28-2008

Rated 0 
I always thought he said
Elvis eats a watermelon

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snugbug79
01-09-2009

Rated 0 
I used to joke with my friends about this song, too. It sounds like he says, "Elvis is a watermelon."


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eversincethewatermelon
01-31-2009

Rated 0 
Elvis is a watermelon? That's news to me. Hah. (Stole my username from this song) But I agree, this song is about racial or cultural differences. The "fingerprints" symbolize the apparent differences in people, whether it be skin color or beliefs.

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